After six months in office, he has lived up to the rhetoric of his Jan. 8 inaugural address: “I will lead with purpose and conviction.”

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But lead how? If the 2018 election proved anything, it’s that Florida is more closely divided than ever, and that should translate into a nonpartisan style of governing to lessen the extreme polarization in this deep purple state. It means honoring the public will, respecting all sides and protecting Florida’s fragile environment all the time, not sometimes.

DeSantis should be leading from the center, where the people are. Instead, his actions repeatedly put him far to the right of the people he serves. This must end.

He struck fear into immigrants with a ban on non-existent “sanctuary cities" that pandered to the angry Republican base that nominated him. He legalized putting guns in the hands of classroom teachers, despite widespread opposition. He expanded the use of scarce tax dollars to pay for private school vouchers in an attack on public education that will produce a fresh constitutional challenge. He foolishly endorsed three new toll roads that will threaten sensitive lands and wildlife. He slapped punitive restrictions on hundreds of thousands of felons, solely because of unpaid fines or fees, that will block them from regaining the right to vote.

The cold reality of DeSantis’ sharp swerve to the right is all the more troubling because he began with so much promise.

In those early weeks, as Floridians were still asking, Who is this guy? DeSantis exceeded expectations, demonstrating conviction with a streak of populism.

He demanded more environmental protection (and followed through with new money), created a new chief science officer, demanded that voter-approved medical marijuana could be smoked, pardoned four wrongly-convicted victims of racial injustice known as the Groveland Four, and showed refreshing bipartisanship by naming Democrats to key posts. All good.

Also on the plus side, DeSantis is a skilled retail politician. To his credit, the new governor realizes the symbolic power of the office he holds and its power to heal. He took time last month to visit the shrine to the Pulse nightclub in Orlando three years after the massacre that ended 49 lives, a gesture that was warmly received by a grateful LGBTQ community.

But the other DeSantis signed a law that makes it much harder for citizens to undertake direct democracy by amending the Florida Constitution, such as banning the use of military-style assault weapons like the ones used at Pulse and in Parkland.

Six months later, Floridians are struggling to reconcile the two DeSantises.

The good news is, there’s plenty of time for the governor to move back toward the center, where he belongs.

In an open letter to Floridians published in newspapers days before he took office, DeSantis declared a pact with the people: “We were elected to serve all Floridians, and that is a charge we will keep."

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We’re waiting, Governor.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Sergio Bustos, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.